How Medicare Advantage Insurers Made $15 Billion

A frequent comment I receive is why do so many companies advertise during open enrollment for Medicare Advantage plans?

A Tuesday, August 6, 2024 front page article in the Wall Street Journal peels back the curtain and helps provide the answer. 

The companies send nurses into Medicare recipient homes millions of times each year to look them over, run tests and ask a lot of questions which enables the companies to create new diagnoses and collect billion of extra dollars from the government. 

These are diagnoses that no doctor or hospital has treated. 

From 2019 to 2021, according to the Journal, these payments added up to $15 billion. 

UnitedHealthcare was the biggest beneficiary at $10.7 billion and all others including CVS/Aetna and Humana receiving $4.6 billion. 

If you’ve been visited by a nurse from your Medicare Advantage plan, now you know why. 

I suggest you check your medical records for any diagnoses not confirmed by your doctor.